


Spoiled Again

by WanderingJane



Category: Batman (Comics), DCU (Comics)
Genre: F/M, Reboot Fic, in honor of Steph's return
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-14
Updated: 2013-10-14
Packaged: 2017-12-29 11:01:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,424
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1004643
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WanderingJane/pseuds/WanderingJane
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tim would like everyone to know that he really hates catchphrases. (Please make her stop.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Spoiled Again

Tim is in the middle of taking down a group of small-time criminals when he hears it: a girlish giggle echoing in the breeze. He pauses, his fist inches away from one of the thugs’ face. Tim looks up, expecting to see yet another villain – Harley Quinn, maybe – but there’s no one. No menacing silhouettes or eerie shadows. Thug #3 takes Tim’s momentary distraction to flip him on his back. His face is about to become painfully acquainted with a boot when a purple blur throws the thug into the brick alley wall.

The hooded purple figure turns to Thug #4 and works towards disarming him. Tim puts aside his confusion and distrust, picks up his staff and joins Purple Girl. Together, they make quick work of the gang. He’s just finished radioing the police when he turns to see the girl standing over one of the thugs, her right foot pressing into his chest. She smiles, but it looks distorted and menacing under her black mask. Tim walks over to her, anticipating an upcoming fight.

It never comes, though. She doesn’t hurt the thug any further. Instead, she puts her hands on her hips in an exaggerated, silly way and says brightly, “You’ve been spoiled.”

When no one reacts, she drops her hands and shuffles awkwardly towards Tim. “Um, sorry I distracted you earlier. I looked like you had everything handled, but I figured a little help never hurt anyone. I’m the Spoiler.” She sticks her hand out. Tim shakes it hesitantly, but makes no move to introduce himself. “Alrighty then, I guess I’ll get going. Um, it was nice fighting crime with you.” She gives him a jaunty salute and disappears down the alley.

—-

Tim spends the next few weeks trying to dig up information about Spoiler, but there isn’t much to go on. Either she’s careful or she’s new in Gotham. Going on her performance the night Tim met her, it’s more likely that she’s new. Batman won’t be happy to find out about another masked vigilante in his city. He should turn her in soon, before she gets herself hurt, but he wants to confront her himself first. It might take him some time, but he’s confident that he’ll find her soon.

As it turns out, she finds him.

He’s observing the city from atop Gotham’s First Federal Bank when she lands clumsily next to him.

“Whoops, sorry. Still trying to figure out the whole land-on-your-feet-not-on-your-butt thing. I mean, I did gymnastics when I was a kid, but landing on a balance beam and landing on top of a stupidly high building are two completely different things, you know?” Tim wants to say something, but he can’t seem to think of the right thing. ‘Go away’ doesn’t work because he doesn’t actually want her to leave. ‘You talk too much’ is rude, even if it is true. ‘Hi’ just sounds lame.

“Um, hello? Are you there, Wing-Man?”

“What?” Who’s Wing-Man?

“He speaks! Man, I thought maybe you couldn’t talk, which is totally fine, by the way. No judgment.” 

“I’m not Wing-Man.”

“Duh, I know, but you never told me your name, so what else was I supposed to call you?”

“Red Robin.”

“Nice to meet you, Red Robin.” They shake hands again. Even under the mask and hood, he can tell that she’s smiling. He wonders what her smile looks like underneath the hood. He has to remind himself that there’s no point in making small talk or trying to get to know her. The point of finding her was to dissuade her from her aspiring career as a vigilante, not to make friends.

“So how’s this whole secret identity thing work? I mean, can you tell your girlfriend or –”

“I don’t have a girlfriend,” he says quickly. He wants to take back the words as soon as he says them.

“Okay. I, uh, meant hypothetically speaking, but okay. So no girlfriend, huh? Why’s that?” Tim doesn’t answer. He can’t; he’s too busy trying to fight down the blush that’s threatening to stain his cheeks. Spoiler seems like the kind of person who’d tease him relentlessly.

They talk, or well, Spoiler talks and Tim occasionally adds a word or two, for a while longer before Gotham’s criminals demand attention. Tim’s about to tell Spoiler to go home, but she’s already fired a grappling hook and is giggling across the sky. He has no choice to follow her. For her own safety, of course.

—-

The pattern continues for several months. Both Tim and Batman have told off Spoiler several times, but she’s yet to be discouraged. If Tim weren’t so worried for her safety, he’d be impressed. Even Batman’s growl hadn’t shaken her.

He finds her taking on a new criminal who calls himself the Baffler. She’s got the Baffler on his back by the time Tim’s reached her. He has to admit that she’s gotten better since he first met her. She still insists on catchphrases, though.

“Spoiled again!” Her voice is brighter than usual.

“Really, Spoiler?”

“Yes, really. Every good superhero needs a catchphrase. Ooh, how about ‘You’ve been caught Red-Handed for you? You know, ‘cause you’re Red Robin?”

“That’s horrible,” he says, laughing. “The catchphrase thing needs to stop.”

“Never, not until we find you a good catchphrase. Even Batman has a catchphrase and he can out-brood you any day of the week, Mister Teen Angst.”

His answer’s on his lips when shots ring out nearby.

“Spoiler alert! Let’s go, handsome!” They fly through Gotham’s dark skies together.

—-

It takes Spoiler almost dying for Tim to realize his mistake. He’d gotten too attached to her. He didn’t want to stop seeing her, so he gave up on trying to get her to quit. It was a mistake, and it had almost cost Spoiler her life. 

He finds her sitting on top of a small building in one of the quieter parts of town. Her shoulders are slumped and her purple hood is down.

“Don’t,” she says before he even sits down. “Please. I know you and Batman hate me being out here, and that none of you think I can do this, but please just don’t say anything. I can’t listen to it right now.” He’s surprised. For months he’d been convinced that his and Batman’s words had no effect on Spoiler, that their warning and admonitions bounced off her cloak like the rain.

“I’m sorry,” he says after a long while. “Really. I do worry about you and think you’d be better off at home, but the truth is, I like having you around.” The decision is so clear in his mind that he doesn’t hesitate in adding, “Don’t give up, Spoiler. I’ll help you train. You’ll get even better, you’ll see.”

She quiet for a long moment before she grips his gloved-hand in her own. “Thank you. You have no idea how much that means to me.” He squeezes her hand and smiles quietly at her.

“I do have to ask you to stop one thing, though.” His smile turned into a smirk. “Please, stop with the catchphrases.”

Her giggling laugh makes a strange warmth bloom from his chest. He’s only a little surprised when she pulls her mask up and reaches over to kiss him. When she pulls away, she takes the whole mask off. Messy blonde hair spills out and frames her pretty face.

“I’m Stephanie. You don’t have to tell me your name ‘cause it’s really private and I figure Batman’s probably really strict on the whole secret-identity thing, but I just really wanted to tell you who I am because it’s a little weird having a crush on a guy who’s never seen your face, you know?”

He cuts her off by kissing her. “I’m Tim,” he whispers against her lips. He’s always guarded his secret identity with a near unhealthy fervor and he knows that Batman will be very angry with him when he finds out, but he trusts Spoiler. Stephanie. Steph. He wants to help her train, to get better. Gotham is a safer place with another vigilante, and he’s happier, less lonely with her.

He’s about to make an embarrassingly sappy declaration of feelings when she says, “So where are we going for our first date?” He laughs and his subsequent grin feels like it’s going to break his cheeks. “Come on, tell me. I know you’ve probably already planned it all out in the past few minutes, Mr. Perfection.”

Tim leans over and kisses her again. “Ah-ah. Spoilers.”


End file.
